1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to surgical devices for manipulating or occluding body conduits of a patient, and more specifically to vessel loops adapted to manipulate blood vessels in a patient.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Particularly in vascular surgery it is often advantageous to manipulate a blood vessel, for example, by engaging the vessel and holding it away from its surrounding tissue bed. This not only improves access to the vessel but also to the tissue bed, as may be required by a particular surgical operation. In the past, vessel loops have been used for this purpose. These loops have been formed from elastomeric materials and provided with a generally elongate configuration. Positioning the loop around the vessel provides suitable engagement with the vessel and enables the ends of the loop to be brought into proximity where they can be pulled to space the vessel from the surrounding tissue bed.
In an operation where the vessel itself is the operative site, two vessel loops are commonly used, one on either side of the operative site, to space the vessel from the tissue bed. Particularly in the this attitude, migration of the vessel loops has been a problem as they tend to slide toward each other thereby obscuring the operative site. This undesirable migration of the vessel loops has been compounded by the generally wet surface of the vessel, which has provided a relatively low coefficient of friction between the vessel and the loop.